False Tracks
Jayme Guokas, Mike Hammel, Greg Pavlovcak, and Jamie Wilson formed False Tracks in 2016 and have released a handful of EP’s since their start. Seasoned veterans of the Philly and DC indie pop/punk scenes, they’ve each been members of The Ropers, Lilys, The Snow Fairies, Pink Skull, Royal Shoals, Last Wave, and The Vexers respectively. With as much collective experience as this band has it’s no surprise that False Tracks delivers such addictive, perfectly executed, post-punk ear worms.
Recording the majority of their output with the legendary Jeff Zeigler at his studio Uniform Recording. The band comments ”We’ve all worked with Jeff on various projects over the last 20+ years. He tolerates our unpleasant manners. Luckily, our tastes have evolved somewhat in parallel with his, so he easily recognizes our references and touchstones. The experience is like hanging out with an old friend, comfortable and instinctive”
Staunch believers that the first thought is the best thought they apply this approach to their songwriting. “The concept was to marry atmospheric guitar, kinetic rhythms, and primal beats with supernatural narratives where aliens, lost souls, and monsters are made to wander in uncanny landscapes. Between projects there was an opportunity to gather some old friends to have fun and make music. There was one rule established from the outset: no songs over two minutes. Shortly after the first demo we broke that rule.”
Throughout the last seven years the band has refined their sound into tight, punchy, post-punk burners. Hymn For Terror showcases a slightly darker False Tracks than what we’ve heard from them before. Moodier songs like Suspended Animation and Wet Market are balanced by the psyche-tinged Dandelion, and the new wave jangle-rock of Who Will Reveal Their Secrets First?. While their style is comparable to bands like Wire, The Feelies, Wipers and early Flying nun releases False Tracks offers more than just the sum of their influences.
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PRESS
“False Tracks embrace 80s underground rock music on Hymn for Terror, a collection of hooky new wave, post-punk, power pop, and college rock. Opening track “Suspended Animation” has an urgency to it, a nervousness to its catchiness that grabbed me immediately from its huge low-end and scratchy six-string beginning.” – Rosy Overdrive
“Occasionally soulful but more often noisy, FALSE TRACKS is definitely a unique sound in our currently bland musicscape. The song “Dandelion” is a rocking track that seemingly combines everything FALSE TRACKS is capable of into a stirring and hypnotic presentation. If you’re a fan of psychedelia and garage rock, then do not sleep on this release.” – Maximum RNR
“While it can be classified as a rock record, each track unveils a distinct focus, accentuating various subgenres of guitar music, including new wave, post-punk, and punk rock. This approach yields a gratifying listening experience, with a healthy balance between easy-to-like songs and more challenging growers. It’s one of those records where your favorite song changes every time you play it.” – Add To Wantlist
“What I’m trying to say, I guess, is that Hymn for Terror features jangle-pop players, yeah, but the tunes here punch with a different force. There’s a richness in approach that makes these numbers I’ve highlighted, and all of Hymn for Terror, really, such an exhilarating listen.” – A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed
“Hymn for Terror echoes early-era Wire and Band of Susans not to mention the jangle splendour of The Bats and various other Flying Nun alumni.” – Sun-13
“In a sense, Hymn for Terror is like a nostalgic drive around the old neighbourhood. Those of us who have spent their later years adopting a life away from the environments of their youth know the feeling of revisiting your youth. Some of those feelings can be strained, tainted, or indeed joyful, and thankfully Hymn for Terror (despite what its title suggests) is the latter.” – Simon Kirk
“Some might call it moody, and whilst the darkness and atmospheric beat is within that frame of narrative, it is better served to describe it as sincere evolving brilliance, a capturing of time in a place that has lost its way; and those pop-punk hymns are gloriously untethered and let loose amongst the dreamers and shakers. 8.5/10” – Liverpool Sound And Vision
” [I]n a cultural moment of video albums and hours-long Phish livestreams, this feels like maybe one of the last truly punk ideas left. And on the track “False Tracks,” the band False Tracks aligns with another great tradition: The band that has a song that’s their name. You could argue that if a band can’t write a song that is their name/mission statement, maybe they have no right being a band in the first place. Bonus points to False Tracks, then, for not just acing the assignment but also creating the most strangely politically relevant work of jangly, post-punk indie pop maybe ever.” – Joey Sweeny Philebrity
“There’s a nervous and urgent rattle to the voice – and, honestly, everything else – on “Down There,” the opening track and title track to the new EP by Philly’s False Tracks. Make no mistake, that sonic tension is a good thing. This is a band is full of energy and determination” – WXPN